Okay Guys, it is at this point I would start worrying ...
Scientists in Newcastle claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory in what they say is a world first.
The researchers believe the work could eventually help men with fertility problems to conceive.
<SNIP>
The Newcastle team say the sperm were fully mature, mobile sperm and they have produced a video to back up the research.
Mind you, I can't say turkey basters are as good as guys are at moving heavy furniture and taking the car to be washed.
Not to mention other things.
So I wouldn't be all that concerned.
Yet.
What was it just about a month ago you gleefully wrote of the dwindling male chromosomes and now you stumble across an article where researchers have created a means to eliminate the need for men all together. It certainly does appear that you are fixated on the elimination of the male gender. But alas, isn't that what feminism is all about?
Posted by: Keith | July 08, 2009 at 06:06 AM
No biggie. As I commented on your Samaritan blog post nature is probably looking for ways to cull our herd. Once the scientist monkeys "perfect" this and lots of women opt for a baby without a deadbeat dad some grievous genetic fault will be discovered.
We can be masters at shooting ourselves in the foot.
Posted by: mozo | July 08, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator,
Do you know the connection between the topic of this thread and the species of whale depicted?
Apparently the big bulging forehead contains a special oil of a certain ... consistency.
Whalers noticed this, and named the whale accordingly.
And if you pronounced the heading with a stereotypical Aberdeen accent ("f" for "wh", e.g., "fan" for "when", etc.) "Sperm fail" would come out as a wonderful pun.
Posted by: The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs | July 08, 2009 at 11:52 AM
So many women want the sperm without the man, but I want the man without the sperm. It appears the former will be available before I find the latter!
Posted by: Ali | July 09, 2009 at 06:50 AM
ALI! COMMENT OF THE WEEK!
Posted by: Antonia | July 09, 2009 at 09:37 AM
Mark Steyn seems to have it right .....
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_070909/content/Mark_Steyn.guest.html
"The end of men is now official. Women no longer need men to reproduce. A race of giant lesbians will bestride the earth, though they may keep one or two housetrained metrosexuals around the place as domestic pets to cut the lawn."
I don't THINK the Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator wants this situation, but maybe some would welcome it .....
Posted by: The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs | July 09, 2009 at 09:55 PM
I find this development insanely fascinating. Essentially this removes the need for a man OR woman in reproduction. As scientists have already successfully created ovum in a lab setting. This really means that we can now create stem cells from our OWN dna (y'know for stem cells) sometime down the line without having to go ahead and create a direct clone of ourselves.
I think personally thats pretty amazing.
Posted by: Fohn | July 11, 2009 at 04:33 PM
Fohn you Klohn,
It gets better .... developing your scenario, imagine a DNA/cloning nerd worried about the shifting ethno-religious etc. balance in his (OK, E&BM, Sooey Sweetie, Pat Pet, de Frum Oase, et al., it probably WOULD be a guy) city/country, who tries to clone thousands of himself, and train them as warriors ....
we've moved into Dalek/Cyberman/Sontaran territory here .......
But fear not, usual suspects. Despite the immense erudition I occasionally display on this site, it couldn't be me ... DNA is one of the areas I bluff my way in .....
Posted by: The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs | July 13, 2009 at 02:13 AM